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5 In 9 For The Van Man

A cracking game, an absurdly good second goal, a fair bit of luck, three points – all in all, a great way to head into the yawnathon of international week. From being 17th a few weeks back, we’re now eighth (behind Reading, but ahead of Writing and Arithmetic), and with five wins on the nose, things are rosy indeed. You can pick holes in this side if you fancy doing so – not enough goals, over-elaboration – but as Wenger’s creations go, this latest one is as exciting as any, and I’m really enjoying watching them.

And it’s funny – against Porto, the one player whose head was down, for whom things just weren’t bouncing right, was Robin van Persie. Yesterday his confidence returned with a hideous vengeance – and his second goal is as good a mid-air-with-your-left-foot volley as you’ll ever see. It was astonishing. So it’s great for him, and he can now take his scoring boots back to Holland, where hopefully he won’t leave them.

I’m being harsh on him of course – he’s scored five goals this season with the conkers only just falling off the trees – that’s five goals in nine starts for club and country.